It is odd how often the military-supporting GOP finds themselves holding the opposite view of the actual military — views the military has held, on torture for example, no matter who was in office.
New link on the side to Lenore Skenazy’s great Free Range KIds blog. She’s the woman who let her 9-year-old ride the New York Subway and is wonderful for a sensible approach to kid safety, both against panic and for smart steps. Worth a read.
Ack. A very very short interview with Bill Waterson just makes me miss Calvin and Hobbes so much more. I can still remember when I first discovered it. We were in Chicago visiting my mom’s friend and she suggested I read it. From then on, I was hooked. I can remember, in college, that reading Calvin in the morning newspaper was one of the highlights of the day. We had just entered the golden phase of Calvin, where Watterson threw off all restraints and made comics that were so wonderful and original and different from anything else.
But he owes us nothing. If he wants to spend the rest of his life in seclusion, more power to him.
More from the global warming front. On the flip side, here’s a valid reason to be skeptical of climate change models. Now that’s skepticism I can get behind.
I was just watching the presentation of the iPad (I want, but I have no money). I’ve been reading for a while about the death of the written book thanks to Kindle and other devices. I think it’s exaggerated for reasons I outlined in my previous post on movie streaming. As long as big business thinks digital copies are licenses, not ownership, people will not give up their hard copies. But I do think we’re going to see a bigger shift toward e-books.
The reason? The advent of the e-book is going to slowly shift an enormous amount of power away from publishers and toward writers. Think about it. If Apple runs their ibook store like they run, say, their iphone aps, the effect will be to shatter the strangehold big publishers have over publication. If a writer can upload his book to ibooks and get $1 per download (as app writers do), it becomes possible to make a living as a writer without having to play pattycake with the big publishing houses.
In the end, I still don’t think the physical book will die. But I see a shift of publishing from the editing/marketing/soliciting business into a straight forward printing directly from e-books — i.e., publishers will become more like Easton Press — selling you any book you want in a beautiful robust edition.
Is someone really starting an all-white basketball league? Maybe there is someone that stupid (and enough people/players to create the league). But I call bullshit. This is either someone’s idea of a joke or one of the few white supremacists left getting his name in he papers. And now on my blog.
A good article on Obama’s “code switching” during speaking. This is hardly unusual in politics or in life. I always used a far more formal speaking manner when I would teach (i.e., sounding a lot less like Jeffrey Lebowski).
Every year, I like to run an article looking ahead and behind, making fearless predictions for the year to come. I’ve written a long piece for the other site on the last year in politics called a Year in Fantasyland. 2009 was the year everyone in politics was delusional — from Democrats who though the nation turned liberal to Republicans who think they’ll ride the tea parties back into power.
I didn’t comment on it there, but my predictions from last year held up pretty well:
I was right that Obama’s popularity would fade as the economy continued to stagnate. And I was right that his foreign policy would be a competent version of Bush’s. I was also right that the economy would be slow to recover.
I was right about the Gators, the Steelers and the Yankees, which kind of scares me.
I was wrong on the international picture. Pakistan has stayed stable while Iran has reeled from protests. However, at least I was right on Iraq — last month saw zero combat deaths for the US, a stunning achievement that got no press at all.
I was wrong on entertainment. There were a solid number of good movies this year and four science fictions films — Star Trek, Avatar, Moon and District 9 — did well critically and financially. That’s the best year in Sci-Fi that I can recall, ever. I still am not watching TV, so I assume it hasn’t improved since it drove me away.
Anyway, 2010 is already two weeks old, so I’d better make my predictions so I can be as wrong as ever.
The economy will show signs of life, but unemployment will remain stubborn. By the end of the year, debt will be the single issue dominating the discussion. This will lead to…
The Republicans, as as result of the above, will gain seats in the Senate and House but fell short of taking back the majority.
This, along with the general mood of the nation, will shift Obama’s agenda slightly to the Right. My hope is that this will mean fiscal conservatism. My fear is that it will mean tougher stances on the War on Terror and crime.
Sarah Palin peaked in 2009 and 2010 will see her slowly revealed as an ignorant and somewhat deluded ideologue. She’s now got a commenting bit on Fox News, which is the first step in exposing who she really is. By the end of the year, the idea of her running for President will be laughable.
Colts over Vikings. Cardinals over Rangers. And parity continues to be the case in the College Football, with Boise State coming very close to cracking the championship game.
The Iranian regime will continue to totter, but will come just short of falling. Reform may be the only way the mullahs stay in power. Iraq will continue to wind down and Afghanistan will improve. Our attention will slowly turn toward Yemen and the disaster that is Africa.
Television will continue its spell in the doldrums, but late night shows will improve as the comedians get better and more comfortable with mocking Obama. The year at the movies does not look terribly impressive to me. Looking at the most anticipated films does not exactly fill me with enthusiasm. Clash of the Titans, in particular, looks sure to disappoint.
It will be a banner year for science. Again.
As much as 2009 was the year of fantasy, 2010 will be, I think and hope, the year of reality. And about time too.
It’s been nothing but Linkoramas lately. But I’ve been posting some article at the other blog. Hopefully, now that the holidays are over, I can get back to being my usual cantankerous self.
Climate Crock of the Week takes on the medieval warming period. On the flip side, Ronald Bailey takes the air out of the rising oceans hysteria.
Bad taxes — both cuts and hikes. Will there ever come a day where our politicians see the tax system as a way to raise money not to create social engineering?
If you wonder why US health costs are soaring, here’s a big reason.
Cracked, being better than the MSM, reviews overlooked celebrity deaths of 2009.
I have to agree with Neal Boortz. Every year, one random homeowner’s association should be taken out and shot.
Peter Suderman runs down the failed healthcare experiments that comprise our national plan. Those who do not learn from current events are destined to be Democrats.
If you’re going to embrace alternative energy, you can’t start playing NIMBY game. There simply isn’t enough spoiled land to provide all our power that way.